Surface projectile game apparatus having removable and reversable game-playing panel

ABSTRACT

A game assembly having a frame unit with corner pockets, and a removable and reversible playing surface panel. The corner pockets may be rigid or flexible, and if rigid such may serve as feet for the frame unit. A plurality of discs or rollable objects, such as balls, may be employed in playing various games.

United States Patent [1 1 Wolff, Jr.

[ SURFACE PROJECTILE GAME APPARATUS HAVING REMOVABLE AND REVERSABLE GAME-PLAYING PANEL [75] Inventor: Norman C. Wolff, Jr., Clayton, Mo.

[73] Assignee: Affiliated Hospital Products, Inc., St. Louis, Mo.

[22] Filed: Feb. 20, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 12,949

[52] US. Cl. 273/126 R, 273/123 R [51] Int. Cl. A63l 3/00 [58] Field of Search 273/95 E, 126 R,

273/108,113,1l5,l16,119,12'3 R,4R,4A, 4 B,4C, 5 R,5 B, 136 R, 136 A, 136 B, 136 C, 136 D, 136 E, 136'F, 136 G, 136 H, 136

GA, 136 GB, 136 K, 136 W, 1362 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 709,634 9/1902 1 Haskell 273/126 R June 26, 1973 951,805 3/1910 Eldridge 273/126 R 1,127,345 2/1915 Zolper 273/108 1,597,419 8/1926 Anderson 273/146 X 739,337 9/1903 Newman 273/119 677,939 7/1901 Carson 273/4 A Primary Examiner-Richard C. Pinkham Assistant Examiner-Theatrice Brown Attorney-Reginald F. Pippin, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT A game assembly having a frame unit with corner pockets, and a removable and reversible playing surface panel. The corner pockets may be rigid or flexible, and if rigid such may serve as feet for the frame unit. A plurality of discs or rollable objects, such as balls, may be employed in playing various games.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Pmmimunzs ma 3. 741. 544

SHEEThUF I FIG.6

SURFACE PROJECTILE GAME APPARATUS HAVINGREMOVABLE AND REVERSABLE GAME-PLAYING PANEL This invention relates to a game unit assembly which enables the selective playing of any of a number of games which may require different playing surfaces or playing arrangements,

It is a feature of the inventionto provide a game playing unit having one or more reversible game playing panels and which enable the playing of one or more pocketed board games.

Still another feature is the provision of a pocketed game board having a reversible playing surface panel, and in which the panel is supported on the inner edges of rigid corner pocket units which also form feet for the board,

Still other objects and attendent advantages will become apparent to one skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment according to the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the embodiment of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the pocketed frame unit of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIGS. 4 and S are section views on lines 4 and 5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a partial cut-away arrangement of FIG. 1.

Referring now in detail to the Figures of the drawing, a game board assembly 11 has a frame unit 13 with four side wall sections 15 and corner sections 17. A removable and reversible playing surface panel 23 is removably supported along its periphery by a vertically recessed ledge 15a formed on the inner wall of frame unit side walls 15 and/or by the inner ledge 17a formed by pocket units 17a in the corner sections 17.

The pocket units 170 may take various forms, and in the illustrated embodiment the pocket units 17a are formed as rigid downwardly protruding corner feet 17a, which may be integral with side walls sections 15 to form an integral pocketed frame unit 13. Pockets 17a may be solid or mesh along their bottoms, or may be solid with simulated mesh lines if desired. The pockets 17a have a straight or other shaped diagonal brace ledge l7af forming a bounding inner top surface for the pockets, which ledge 17a serves to provide support for the removable center panel 23. To this end, the center panel 23 has diagonally cut or set-back corners 23a which are sized to lay on and in vertical alignment with the corner support ledges 17a, thereby enabling the facile surface movement of rings R or other surface projectile playing pieces, such as balls, in the pockets 17a upon sliding or rollingmovement of such pieces across the instant playing surface formed by the removable panel 23.

The game assembly 11 enables the playing of various games, employing a single removable and reversible panel 23, with desired indicia and/or other game elements thereon dependent upon the games desired to be played. Additionally, the frame unit 13 will accommodate a plurality of differently surfaced panels 13, with such diverse game indicia thereon as for checkers, backgammon, crokinole, pool (with cloth or flocked fragmentary view of the surface if desired), etc. In addition, it will be seen that upon removal of the rigid center panel 23 the game of tiddly winks may be played with the frame unit either to a single pocket 17a or to all pockets 17a in rotation.

The winks or discs (not shown) may be flipped into the pockets either from the inside of the frame 13 or from outside the frame 13, as desired, and while such is rest ing on a flat surface such as a table or floor, and scoring may vary dependent on which approach is selected.

While the invention has been illustrated and described with respect to a preferred embodiment according thereto, it will be apparent that various modifications and improvements may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited by the particular illustrative embodiment, but only by the scope of the appended claims.

That which is claimed is:

l. A game assembly comprising:

a frame unit having a peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets each having a pocketdefining brace,

I and a reversible removable game-playing panel removably supported within said peripheral wall sec tion and supported by said braces of said pockets,

said corner pockets being rigid,

said frame unit forming a central void zone devoid of any central panel and extending in bounded relation by and between said pockets and said side walls when said game-playing panel is removed therefrom,

said corner pockets being exteriorly bounded by a portion of said peripheral wall section and protruding beneath the remaining portions of said peripheral wall section to form spaced feet for said frame unit.

2. A game assembly comprising:

a frame unit having a peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets,

and a reversible removable game-playing panel removably supported within said peripheral wall section,

said frame unit forming a central void zone devoid of any central panel and extending in bounded relation by and between said pockets and said wall section when said game-playing panel is removed therefrom,

each of said corner pockets being exteriorly bounded by the respective corner wall portion of said peripheral wall section, and having a corner brace as a portion thereof and extending between two corner-intersecting side walls of said peripheral wall section,

said panel having corner openings and extending over and into supported contact with the respective upper surfaces of said corner braces to thereby provide for support of said panel by said corner braces and to enable facile movement of a surface projectile into a pocket.

3. A game assembly according to claim 2,

said comer openings extending over and having their respective pocket edges disposed above and in general vertical alignment with said corner braces, said panel being removably seated on said corner braces at said corner pockets.

4. A game assembly according to claim 3,

said corner pockets being rigid and forming protruding feet for said assembly.

5. A game assembly comprising:

a frame unit having a peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets,

and a reversible removable game playing panel removably supported within and on said peripheral wall section,

said frame unit forming a central void zone devoid of any central panel and extending in bounded relation by and between said pockets and said wall section when said game-playing panel is removed therefrom,

said peripheral wall section having an inner panelsupport ledge formed thereon for removable seating of said panel thereon, and said panel being freely removably seated on said inner panel support ledge in freely directly and non-rotatably slidably removable fitting substantially complementary relation to the effective inner wall play-bounding surface of said peripheral wall section in the zones thereof extending between said pockets.

6. A game assembly comprising:

a frame unit having a peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets, each of said pockets including a pocket corner brace,

and a reversible removable game-playing panel removably supported within and on said peripheral wall section,

said frame unit forming a central void zone devoid of any central panel and extending in bounded relation by and between said pockets and said side walls when said game-playing panel is removed therefrom,

said peripheral wall section having an inner panelsupport ledge formed thereon for removable seating of said panel thereon, the upper effective surface of said inner ledge being in lateral panelseating alignment with the effective upper surface of said pocket corner brace to form a composite peripheral seat for said removable panel.

7. A game arrangement for selectively and alternatively removably receiving a selected substantially complementary game-playing panel, comprising a frame unit having an annular peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets, and ledge means on at least one of said peripheral wall section and said corner pockets for removably supporting said panel in seated relation thereon,

said ledge means having a panel supporting surface spaced vertically from a lower oppositely facing peripheral edge surface of the annular peripheral wall section,

said frame unit having a central void zone formed between and bounded by said corner pockets and the peripheral wall sections extending therebetween, which central void zone is selectively coverable or exposed to its full void extent by respectively alternatively supporting a game-playing complementary panel on said ledge means and in effectively adjoining relation with the inner bounding portions of said peripheral wall section and said corner pockets or by selective removal therefrom of such panel as a unit.

8. A game arrangement according to claim 7,

said ledge means being formed on both said peripheral wall section and said corner pockets, and said frame unit having a bottomless total void between said supporting ledges to thereby support said panel solely by said ledge means, and to enable the playing of other and different games with said panel removed. 

1. A game assembly comprising: a frame unit having a peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets each having a pocket-defining brace, and a reversible removable game-playing panel removably supported within said peripheral wall section and supported by said braces of said pockets, said corner pockets being rigid, said frame unit forming a central void zone devoid of any central panel and extending in bounded relation by and between said pockets and said side walls when said game-playing panel is removed therefrom, said corner pockets being exteriorly bounded by a portion of said peripheral wall section and protruding beneath the remaining portions of said peripheral wall section to form spaced feet for said frame unit.
 2. A game assembly comprising: a frame unit having a peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets, and a reversible removable game-playing panel removably supported within said peripheral wall section, said frame unit forming a central void zone devoid of any central panel and extending in bounded relation by and between said pockets and said wall section when said game-playing panel is removed therefrom, each of said corner pockets being exteriorly bounded by the respective corner wall portion of said peripheral wall section, and having a corner brace as a portion thereof and extending between two corner-intersecting side walls of said peripheral wall section, said panel having corner openings and extending over and into supported contact with the respective upper surfaces of said corner braces to thereby provide for support of said panel by said corner braces and to enable facile movement of a surface projectile into a pocket.
 3. A game assembly according to claim 2, said corner openings extending over and having their respective pocket edges disposed above and in general vertical alignment with said corner braces, said panel being removably seated on said corner braces at said corner pockets.
 4. A game assembly according to claim 3, said corner pockets being rigid and forming protruding feet for said assembly.
 5. A game assembly comprising: a frame unit having a peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets, and a reversible removable game playing panel removably supported within and on said peripheral wall section, said frame unit forming a central void zone devoid of any central panel and extending in bounded relation by and between said pockets and said wall section when said game-playing panel is removed therefrom, said peripheral wall section having an inner panel-support ledge formed thereon for removable seating of said panel thereon, and said panel being freely removably seated on said inner panel support ledge in freely directly and non-rotatabLy slidably removable fitting substantially complementary relation to the effective inner wall play-bounding surface of said peripheral wall section in the zones thereof extending between said pockets.
 6. A game assembly comprising: a frame unit having a peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets, each of said pockets including a pocket corner brace, and a reversible removable game-playing panel removably supported within and on said peripheral wall section, said frame unit forming a central void zone devoid of any central panel and extending in bounded relation by and between said pockets and said side walls when said game-playing panel is removed therefrom, said peripheral wall section having an inner panel-support ledge formed thereon for removable seating of said panel thereon, the upper effective surface of said inner ledge being in lateral panel-seating alignment with the effective upper surface of said pocket corner brace to form a composite peripheral seat for said removable panel.
 7. A game arrangement for selectively and alternatively removably receiving a selected substantially complementary game-playing panel, comprising a frame unit having an annular peripheral wall section and a plurality of corner pockets, and ledge means on at least one of said peripheral wall section and said corner pockets for removably supporting said panel in seated relation thereon, said ledge means having a panel supporting surface spaced vertically from a lower oppositely facing peripheral edge surface of the annular peripheral wall section, said frame unit having a central void zone formed between and bounded by said corner pockets and the peripheral wall sections extending therebetween, which central void zone is selectively coverable or exposed to its full void extent by respectively alternatively supporting a game-playing complementary panel on said ledge means and in effectively adjoining relation with the inner bounding portions of said peripheral wall section and said corner pockets or by selective removal therefrom of such panel as a unit.
 8. A game arrangement according to claim 7, said ledge means being formed on both said peripheral wall section and said corner pockets, and said frame unit having a bottomless total void between said supporting ledges to thereby support said panel solely by said ledge means, and to enable the playing of other and different games with said panel removed. 